Alisa Bettale is the Instruction and Content Manager for Berkeley Lab’s K-12 STEM Education & Outreach Programs. Alisa’s career journey combines a passion for astrophysics, a love for teaching, and a desire to make a difference in STEM education.

Alisa’s love for astronomy began at a young age, inspired by Star Wars, space shuttle launches, and visits to the planetarium. She credits her high school STEM teachers for their encouragement and support, which led her to pursue a degree in astrophysics at Carnegie Mellon University. After completing her master’s degree in astronomy at San Diego State University, Alisa found herself at a crossroads. “I had many different paths. I could continue my PhD. I could go into research. I chose to go into education and be a teacher,” she recalls.

Alisa spent five challenging and rewarding years teaching high school physics. However, the pandemic and a move to the Bay Area prompted her to explore opportunities beyond the classroom, leading her to her current role at Berkeley Lab.

“Having a career that’s altruistic is important, but…also find a career that allows you to keep continuously learning and finding opportunities for growth.”

– Alisa Bettale

Of the many different jobs you have had in your career journey, which one was the most rewarding? Why?

Definitely, being a high school teacher was the most rewarding job from my past experiences. I love working with students and getting them excited about physics and STEM. Seeing their growth through the year, or sometimes even through multiple years, was incredible. Often when teaching a physics class, students come in saying they don’t want to take the class and they’re only there as it’s a requirement for graduation. In addition, some would come in with this fixed mindset that, because they didn’t do great in their previous math or science classes, they would automatically be bad at physics. It was always a good challenge for me to make my students like physics or at least gain a stronger interest in STEM. I strived to build their confidence and realize they have absolutely nothing to fear about physics. I’m really a big believer in the growth mindset.

Who was your most influential mentor – formal or informal – and how did they shape your career path?

I’ve been really lucky to have incredible mentors throughout my career journey. The mentor who encouraged me to go into the field of education is my graduate school thesis and TA advisor, Dr. Doug Leonard. One of the main reasons I applied for the astronomy graduate program at San Diego State University (SDSU) was because I was really interested in his research related to supernovae, which was also what my undergraduate research was focused on.

At the time, he was the coordinator for grad student TAs for the introductory astronomy undergraduate course. He was also actively involving graduate students in various astronomy outreach opportunities. Because of these experiences, I gained an interest in pursuing a career in education. Although Doug was supportive of this choice, there were some other people who said my time would be better spent doing a PhD or research. It’s just incredible, because education, I truly believe, should be a highly valued vocation. Shouldn’t we be supporting those with advanced degrees in STEM or other subject areas who wish to be classroom teachers? But instead, at least what I faced, was that people would be dismissive of my career choice in becoming a teacher.

Doug offered support for whichever career path I wanted to pursue. He’s still at SDSU, and I’m sure he’s mentored many more grad students and undergrads. We’re all lucky to have him.

What career setback or even a mistake do you feel has helped you succeed and grow?

I don’t know if it’s a setback or mistake per se, but I didn’t go for a PhD straight after my undergraduate degree. As an undergraduate, I unfortunately had the impression that to be successful with a STEM degree, especially an astrophysics degree, you had to have a PhD. The only career choices presented to me was either being a professor at a university or a research scientist at NASA or other research institutions. And to do that, you had to first get your PhD, followed by being a postdoc.

At the end of my undergraduate studies, I knew I couldn’t do six-plus more years of being a PhD student. I honestly knew I just could not at that point. Unfortunately, trying to find a job with just a Bachelor’s degree in astrophysics was really challenging. I’m glad I found a program that offered a Master’s degree in astronomy to give me space to explore if research was really what I wanted to do for my career. My undergraduate research advisor was really supportive of this choice too, which gave me confidence that it was the right thing for me to do at the time. I’m grateful for that as I was allowed to be in a less pressured environment within the two-year Masters program and discovered a career pathway in education.

Reflecting on this, I kind of wish my undergraduate institution had emphasized that a career in education with a Bachelor’s degree in physics was an option. I don’t know why they didn’t, because there’s actually a huge need for physics teachers in classrooms. If I had known that was an option I might have really considered it, but I didn’t know about it. So I guess not going for my PhD might seem like a setback, but it ended up being okay.

What would you say is the most important piece of career advice that you have ever received?

I received advice to find a career which would allow for personal growth. A really important aspect for my career is that I contribute to providing students equitable access to high-quality STEM education. So for me, having a career that’s altruistic is important, but the advice I received was that you want to also find a career that allows you to keep continuously learning and finding opportunities for growth. I’ve always strived to do that.

I think that also leads into why, maybe at that point when I was teaching for about five years, I was starting to look for something else. That’s not to say that being a classroom teacher for many years doesn’t provide opportunities for growth. You continuously try to improve your teaching every year, you might get new classes, you might have new roles within the school, and so on. But I was looking for more opportunities that had a wider impact in STEM education because I thought that was the place I wanted to learn more about and could grow better into.

I’m happy to say that my position here at Berkeley Lab, thanks to my supervisor, Faith Dukes, and the rest of the K-12 team, has given me many opportunities to grow, for which I’m really thankful. I’ve learned so much about what goes into building sustainable programs to give students access to meaningful STEM opportunities, among many other things. I’m grateful that my experience here at the Lab has aligned well with the career advice I received about personal growth.